The Effects of Team Learning on Social Loafing Development

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Cooperative Learning SIG Roundtable

Abstract

This study examines simultaneously the degree to which goal orientation and changes in team learning (i.e., shifts in collective knowledge) affect social loafing. The authors use a multiwave design to explain changes in social loafing tendencies of 675 students working in teams. They conduct linear mixed effects modeling to show that individual team members who belong to teams that score higher than other teams on team learning throughout nine weeks of teamwork experience a decrease in social loafing. Although learning and performance orientations are significantly related to initial self- or peer-rated social loafing, they cannot explain ensuing changes in social loafing. Results highlight the importance of considering team-level dynamic properties when explaining fluctuations of motivation in teams.

Author

• Catherine Gabelica, IÉSEG School of Management